


Crash

by FaeQueenInu



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, But its not like horribly dark, Eventual Romance, F/M, Kidnapping, M/M, Major Character Injury, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, This is darker than my other fics, in my opinion at least, just warning y'all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2020-10-28 12:47:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20778812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaeQueenInu/pseuds/FaeQueenInu
Summary: It felt like those moments before a car crash. Everything goes still, and you know what's coming. Time seems to drag out as all the dread and regret cave in while you think of every little mistake you made that led to this moment. But still, what can you do but sit back and watch.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I promised my readers of my other story a Darcy/Bucky/Steve story, and I ended up with this darker, angst filled mess. I am so sorry. Kind of. Okay I'm just a terrible person and I hope y'all enjoy.

“_Where is she_?!”

Head darting up from the tablet before him, Steve watched with wide eyes as Tony Stark came barging into his hospital room. He had an unfamiliar look of rage across his features as he stared down the room’s occupants.

“Stark, what are you doing here?” Natasha asked, her eyes narrowed. “You were supposed to have been in surgery today.”

“Surgery?” Steve glanced between the two, having no idea what was going on.

“Yes, Cap, surgery. It was supposed to be hush hush, but spy’s don’t seem to understand what privacy is.” His words were pure Tony, but the sharp edge to his tone was unnerving to the group. “I should be in a nice, plush hospital getting the shrapnel removed from my body, but instead I’m here because _someone_ decided to blow up SHIELD headquarters on a god damned _Thursday_!”

Sam finally spoke up. “Would a Tuesday have been more convenient?”

Tony spun around, eyeing the other man. “You must be flyboy from the news feed. Where does Cap _find_ you people?” Not giving Sam a chance to answer, he turned back to Steve. “I can deal with missing my surgery. What I can_not_ deal with is the fact that this all happened and now I can’t get ahold of Darcy!”

Natasha straightened up. “Darcy?”

“Who the hell is Darcy?” Sam asked.

“She’s an annoying and intelligent little spitfire, about 5 foot 3 with the mouth of a trucker and an attitude that would make Fury squirm.” Pacing about the room, Stark continued to rant. “She…” He swallowed heavily. “She means a lot to me.” His words were heavy and sobering, a side of Stark that none of them were used to. 

Shaking his head, he continued to speak. “She came to SHIELD _on my behalf_ to figure out what the fuck was going on with Fury supposedly being dead and you being labeled a traitor!” Finally stopping, he leaned against the railing at the foot of Steve’s hospital bed, staring him dead in the eyes. “She had a meeting with Pierce when the building went down. And now I can’t get ahold of her or her security detail.”

Steve’s eyes slowly grew wide, and his head whipped to Natasha. She caught the look in his eyes and grimaced. “I know her. And I definitely did not see her with Pierce.”

“What’s this about Pierce?” All attention turned back to Tony, whose eyes were hard. “Actually, what the hell happened?”

With a grim set to his mouth, Steve simply replied, “Hydra.”

* * *

“You need to rest, Steve.”

Glancing to the side, he kept his face blank as he continued to shift off the bed, heading back any sign that he might still be in pain. “I’m fine, Nat.”

Her frown deepened as she snarked, “Tell that to your medical chart.”

“You know I heal fast-“

“Broken ribs, a severe concussion, plus several bullet wounds needs more than a few days rest to heal, Rogers!” she snapped in a rare moment of anger. “I know you want to find him, but even you need more time to heal.”

He was about to protest, but she continued. “No, Steve. There is nothing you can say to justify running off like this. We will find him, I swear, but not until he is ready to be found.”

Shoulders deflating, Steve let out a weary sigh. “I know, I know… I just…” His tired eyes looked up to meet hers. “He’s out there, alone. How can I not worry about him?”

Moving to sit on the edge of the bed next to him, she replied, “I’m not asking you not to worry about him. That would be impossible. I’m just asking that you be smart about this. He can handle himself. He’s trained for this. Like I said, we aren’t going to find him till he wants to be found.” Heaving out a sigh, she added, “Besides, we have more immediate concerns.”

Slipping on his Captain America face, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“We are still fielding the concerns and issues from the various government branches, plus the fallout among citizens over the fact that one of the top government agencies was infested with a Nazi era sleeper cell.” Reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose, she added, “Not to mention that Tony has been in a complete nosedive since he arrived.”

“He still hasn’t found that girl?”

“Darcy Lewis,” Natasha supplied. “Twenty six year old employee of Stark’s. She’s a good kid.”

“No offense to her,” Steve asked carefully. “But what’s her importance to Stark?…”

The doors slammed open and interrupted him. Tony came barreling in, face directed to his tablet as he strode towards Steve’s side. The man looked haggard, as if he had not slept since he first arrived and commandeered their resources in search of the girl. “We have a lead!” he called out.

“You found something on Darcy?” Natasha asked, her expression quickly falling into her usual mask. This was the focus of the Widow, the part of Natasha that Steve never wanted to on the bad side of.

“We finally found her on some of the film recovered from SHIELD.” Furiously tapping on the Stark Pad he was carrying, he pulled up a camera view before handing it over to them. “Take a look.”

As the video played, they could see as a young woman with dark hair quickly strode into view, trailed by what looked like four bodyguards. “That’s a lot of protection,” Steve commented, sending a questioning glance towards Tony. 

“She’s important,” is all the man replied with.

Returning attention back to the video, he watched the scene carefully. It was a distant shot with no sound, but he could see when the group froze, all looking upward in surprise.

“The time stamp matches when you gave the speech,” Natasha chimes in smoothly.

The group remains frozen for a bit, then they are all reaching for weapons, even the young woman. “Of _course_ she manages to talk her way into bringing in her taser…” Tony muttered, though a hint of pride hung in his words.

Chaos finally erupted, the bodyguards falling into defensive stances around her as she braces herself with her weapon. Before much could happen, however, they watch as one of the guards grabs a fist full of her hair, pulling him sharply to him and disarming her while another guard effectively puts a bullet into the head of the other two guards.

Steve’s jaw tightened as Natasha quietly commented, “Stark Industries needs to be added on the list of places to vet for Hydra agents.”

Darcy put up a hell of a fight, but it was clear that she did not have much training. As the young woman is dragged off screen by the fake guards, Tony finally broke. With a loud, angry shout, he punched wall, cursing up a storm. “They took her, they fucking _took her_!”

“This is a good thing, Tony,” Natasha replied calmly, interrupting his tirade. “This just upped her chances of being alive. They took her for a reason.”

He let out a bitter laugh. “Yes, because her being held hostage by Nazis after world domination is such a _great_ scenario.” Pacing the floor, Tony was clearly building himself up into a frenzy. “Fuck it all, this is my fault. God _damn it_!”

“Tony,” Steve firmly remarked using his cap voice. “This is not your fault.”

“Yes it is, she’s a target _because of me_.”

“What do you mean-“

“_Because she’s my daughter!_”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy with the response to this!! Thank you everyone!

“Let go of me, your piece of-“

_SMACK._

Yelping, she fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Hand clutching her cheek, she didn’t see him reach down till she felt the hand in her hair, yanking her up off the ground. Gritting her teeth, she willed herself not to make a sound as she stared up at the man with a seething look.

A door slammed open. “What the fuck, Mackey!” She felt herself be dropped to the ground as the sound of rapid, heavy steps approached. “What did I say?!”

“She was being a mouthy little bitch,” her attacker bit out. 

“I don’t care if she was calling your mom a whore,” the other man shouted, coming into her line of sight finally, shoving Mackey away. He was taller than his partner, with broader shoulders and a generally more handsome cut face. Internally, she felt like vomiting over the fact that she had _flirted_ with him in the past. “You will _not_ damage her, unless you want to be the one to explain to the bosses that your delicate ego is more important than our mission.”

“Oh, piss off, Garner. A few smacks aren’t gonna do shit besides putting her in her place.” He still made no moves towards her, instead striding out the door in a huff.

Shaking his head, Garner knelt down next to her, reaching out towards her face. “He didn’t hurt you too badly, did he?”

Huffing in irritation, she snapped, “Acting like you care now is not going to make up for the fact that you two are absolute shit bodyguards.” Ignoring his attempt to help her up, she stood up on her own, dropping on the old mattress with her arms crossed. “You’re still fired.”

He let out an amused chuckle. “Sorry you feel that way.”

Eyes narrowed, she asked, “You do realize how fucking stupid this was, right? There is no version of this where you come out on top.”

He simply smirked. “We will see.” Heading towards the door, he added with a shit eating grin, “Get some rest, Darcy: we head out as soon as our reinforcements arrive.”

Then he stepped out, slamming the door behind him. She could hear several sets of heavy locks slip into place. She let out a snort. “That sounds like overkill.”

Rising to stand, she began to quickly and methodically move around the room. She took stock of the outdated mattress, which looked decently clean. It unfortunately had no springs, which took away that option as a weapon. It had a blanket and a pillow, which were also useless unless she wanted to toss the blanket on their heads and run or try to smother them with the pillow. Other than that, there was a light fixture built into the ceiling which she couldn’t reach and a bucket that she assumed was for relieving herself.

Overall, she had to give them credit for not giving her anything to work with.

But she took points away when she realized that they didn’t have any cameras or microphones in the room. “Way to underestimate the girl with three and a half doctorates…”

Dropping back down onto the mattress, she tapped on the bracelet on her right wrist. It looked like a simple metal band, but after tapping out S.O.S. in morse on the metal, it suddenly flexed and tightened on her wrist in a way that it could not be removed. 

Smirking to herself, she let out a sigh of relief. It would take a few hours for them to narrow down where she is, but she knew things should be fine from here on out.

* * *

Steve felt like his brain was short circuiting.

“I…I’m sorry, your _what_?”

Tony looked defeated, with a heavy sigh, he moved to drop into the room’s empty chair, running his hands over his face. “My daughter. Darcy is my kid.”

“…_how?”_

Tony gave him an incredulous stare. “Did no one give you the birds and the bees talk? I would have figured with all the USO girls that you would have found out by now. You know, how when a guy and a girl like each other _very_ much-“

“You know what I mean, Tony,” Steve interrupted with a tired sigh. “You have never mentioned a daughter before.”

Shifting in the chair, Steve could see the uncomfortable look on his face. “The Stark name comes with a lot of baggage. I never wanted her to be burdened by it. So I kept her out of limelight. Out of the shadow of the name.”

Staring at the man, Steve felt a growing weight of respect for him. The fact that he had put his usual pride aside in order to try and do what’s best for his daughter… “Who is her mother?”

“Theresa Lewis,” he replied quietly. “She left not long after Darcy was born.” At the saddened look on Cap’s face, Tony waved him off. “Theresa never wanted a kid, and we were never close. I’m just thankful that she let me know about Darcy and didn’t just dump her in the foster system.” His eyes grew tired. “Darcy… she’s my everything, Cap. The one thing I made that I haven’t fucked up. I need to find her.”

Cap rose from the bed, stepping towards his friend. Resting a hand on Stark’s shoulder, he firmly declared “We will find her. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“They might not even know about her being your child,” Natasha chimed in, finally breaking her assessing silence.

“Then why would they take her?” Steve asked.

Running his hands over his face, Tony supplied, “Because she works for me and is the only other person besides myself who has worked on the Iron Man suit.” At Steve’s wide eyes, Tony added, “She’s on her way to having as many doctorates as myself: mechanical and electrical engineering, physics, and she just finished a political science masters. She’s currently working on a specialty doctorate degree in Astrophysics because of her friendship with Dr. Jane Foster.”

“Thor’s Jane?” Steve asked incredulously.

“They met on complete accident,” Tony explained. “Well, sort of accident. She needed another science credit and was interested in Foster’s method. The Thor part was an accident. Darcy’s the ‘lightning sister’ that he keeps rambling about.”

Seeming deep in thought, Natasha piped in, “So she could possibly have been taken because of Foster’s work as well?”

“…shit.”

“So essentially, they could be after her for either Iron Man suit specs or information on Dr. Foster’s work on the Bridge.”

“Or she’s a ransom hostage,” Steve added.

Tony dropped his face to his hands. “I think I’m gonna be sick.” That’s when a loud, high pitch beeping sound erupted from his StarkPad. Snatching the device off the hospital bed, Tony began to frantically scroll through the screens. A happy laugh burst from him. “Thank god, she activated it!”

“Who activated what?” Steve asked.

“Darcy!” Stark all but shouted, rapidly tapping away on the tablet. “She activated her tracker. Its limited range to lower the risk of the captors discovering it, and I can’t get an exact location unless I’m within five miles, but its a start!” Tapping some final commands with a flourish, he announced, “Tracking drones are launched! They are circling out from the city center and scanning for the bracelet. We should find something soon!”

“That’s good progress,” Steve replied. “We need to fill in Sam and get ourselves prepped to head out as soon as you get a signal.”

Tony was practically vibrating where he stood. “She’s going to be okay, Steve.”

Smiling warmly to his friend, he rested a hand on his shoulder. “She’s going to be just fine, Tony.”

* * *

Slumping down in the chair with a heavy sigh, Mackey couldn’t help the growl of irritation when he heard the ping from the scanner in the other room. Running a hand through his hair, he shoved out of the chair and trudged over to the other room.

Garner had left to call around, trying to see what was left of their bosses to confirm what they should do next. Which left him to babysitting duty, as well as monitoring the scanners. Tapping on the screen, he expected to just see another signal of a cellphone passing too closely to the safe house.

When he saw the signal readings, however, he let out an enraged roar as he stormed out of the room. “_You little _**_bitch!_**_”_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING. THIS CHAPTER IS A BIT GRAPHIC. If you don't like mentions of physical harm, this is probably not the story for you. I'm about to go edit tags. 
> 
> That being said, sorry this took so long to write! It hurt my heart, and was hard to get it all down...

Garner was _pissed_.

Hydra was in pieces. Dozens and dozens of tiny, shattered pieces, with everyone scrambling to try and put it back together while simultaneously dragging the pieces into the shadows. They had lost most of their resources and a huge chunk of their followers.

Which ultimately meant that they were on their own.

Not that it meant that it would be acceptable to pull out of this assignment. They were still expected to keep her: the few heads of the various fragments still wanted the Stark heir. They just couldn’t afford many resources to spare for them.

Slamming the door to the safe house open, he shouted, “_Mackey_! Time to clear out: we’ve got to move.” Glancing around the main room, he scowled, noticing Mackey was nowhere in sight. “Where the hell are you?”

With an uneasy feeling settling in his gut, he took quick strides toward the back room where they kept Darcy. Muttering under his breath, he said, “Fucking hell, Mackey, if you did _anything_ to her…”

Reaching the back room, he immediately noticed the missing lock. Then, he noticed something else: faint, laborious breathing punctuated with quiet sobs. Without another moment’s hesitation, he slammed open the door, ready to shout at the man, only to lose his voice and stare in horror.

“She had a tracker. It was her bracelet,” Mackey stated bluntly, his back to Garner as he stared down emotionlessly at the girl curled up on the floor as she struggled not to cry out. Blood was pooled around his feet. “It wouldn’t unsnap… it was stuck.”

Slowly turning around, Garner’s eyes dropped to what Mackey was holding, his stare not wavering till Mackey spoke. He then noticed the far off look in Mackey’s eyes, as if he were stunned with his own actions. “I found a way to get it off.”

* * *

“This is taking too long.”

Glancing from the corner of her eyes, Natasha huffed slightly. “Were you expecting this to be easy?”

“You know what I mean.” His gaze never wavered from the road in front of them. They had been driving this grid pattern for hours. Sam was flying a few miles west of their position, while Stark had been headed South, his drones filling in the gaps of their pattern. It was slow and tedious, but until they were within five miles of her location, there was nothing else to be done. “The longer they have her, the less the chances of us finding her alive.”

“Better to find nothing than a body.”

Jolting his gaze to her, he snapped, “_Nat-_“

“Eyes on the road, Cap,” she gently admonished. Her eyes had dropped back to the StarkPad in her lap, absently watching for a blip to appear on radar. “You should not allow yourself to be compromised like this.”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “How can you _not_?” Loosening his grip when it began to creak ominously, he sighed. “The girl is at the mercy of HYDRA. There is no telling what they are doing to her."

“My first bit of advice? Think of her as Darcy, not ‘the girl’.” Steve could not help but wince over Nat’s sharp tone. “She’s a smart and competent young woman who isn’t unfamiliar with what we deal with. She was there with Foster and Thor for the London incident.”

He grimaced. From what he had seen of the videos from the event, it looked like something akin to an apocalypse. “That wasn’t that long ago.”

“From the report about the event, she was the one who gathered Dr. Selvig and assisted in building the devices to close down the portals while Thor and Foster were in Asgard. She is more than capable of handling herself under stress.”

With a sigh, he remarked, “I get your point. She’s not just a girl. Doesn’t mean I have to be okay with what’s happened to her.”

He found himself on the receiving end of a vicious glare. “And you think I am? Just because I was trained to compartmentalize does not mean I care any less about her safety,” she replied bluntly. “You are no use to anyone if you cannot focus on the issue at hand. We are doing everything we can to find Darcy, and sulking over the worst case scenario helps no one.”

“I know… I just…” His words trailed off, growing softer. “I don’t want to give HYDRA the chance to hurt any more people. After seeing what they did to Bucky…”

Her eyes finally softened. “We aren’t giving up, not on her or on _him_. We will do what we can to help them both. Keep a little hope, and don’t dwell on the worst case scenario. Just… be prepared. Just in case.”

He was about to say something, but a pinging sound alerted from the StarkPad, followed by a voice. “_Cap, can you read me?_”

“Loud and clear, Sam,” he replied, watching as Natasha tapped away at the screen. “Did you find anything?”

“_I think I picked up on a signal from her tracker. Its on the edge of my range, and you two are fairly close to me.”_

“Got it,” Natasha chimed in. “ETA is about 30 minutes from our current location.” 

“_I will scope out the area before you two arrive._”

“Be careful, Sam.”

Natasha let out a snort. “Says the man who jumps out of planes without a parachute.”

“_You did WHAT- you know what, never mind, I’m not even surprised. Wilson, out.”_

Steve let out a groan as he sped up the car. “I am never going to live that down.” 

* * *

They were twenty minutes out when Steve spoke up.

Clearing his throat, he stated, “Contact Stark: he won’t be happy if we don’t let him know about this.”

She quirked a brow. “He’s in the opposite position of our grid: should we really be calling him in before we check this out? What if it’s a false reading?” 

“He’s going to notice when we deviate from the search pattern, and I’d rather not deal with the fallout.” Glancing at Nat, he added, “It’s his kid: he should be kept informed.”

“Even with how erratic he’s been?”

“I know what its like to have someone you care deeply about be taken from you. Trust me. The last thing you want to do is to stand in his way.”

* * *

They were fifteen minutes out when she noticed.

“Cap.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The reading is in the middle of a field. An _empty_ field, just off a highway, with nothing around for miles.”

“And?…”

“If I was goon on the run and in a panic, and I was trying to dump something that made me a target…”

Steve drove faster.

* * *

They were five minutes out when Wilson called in.

“_Please tell me Stark isn’t on the way.”_

“Sam, what’s wrong?”

“_Cap, you need to call him off, NOW_.”

“You know we won’t be able to stop him,” Natasha replied smoothly. “Sam, what did you find?”

“_You need to try. He cannot come here!_”

“Sam, what is wron-“

“_For the love of God, Steve! Call. Him. OFF._”

“What did you find?” Silence. “Sam?” The sounds of retching could be heard over the line. “Sam?!”

“_They found the device. They… They…” _

“Sam, we are three minutes out, just hang in there. Everything will be fine-“

“_They cut off her fucking ARM_.”

* * *

“Magnesium, Aluminum, Silicon, Phosphorus… then Sulfur, Chlorine, and Argon…”

The voice was quiet and hoarse, yet she still continued to weakly sing the words while staring at the roof of the car blankly. His hands tightened around the steering wheel, his teeth grinding together in annoyance. She had been singing that song, over and _over_ again. How she remembered it all, he had no fucking clue.

“Potassium and Calcium, so you'll grow strong-“

“Could you please be _quiet_?”

Her voice stopped, and for a moment, he heaved a sigh of relief. Yet, he felt her gaze on him, and he glanced into the rearview mirror at her sprawled across the backseat.

She looked like a scene from a horror flick. Blood splattered on her cheek and glasses, soaking through her clothes and congealing into a disgusting mess. She was sure to start smelling soon if he did not find her a change of clothes and a shower.

The worst image was of her arm. The bloody bandage wrapped around the stump of her forearm. She currently had it resting on her stomach, and would wince slightly whenever the car jarred it to move. 

He seethed quietly every time he laid eyes on it. His superiors would have his ass for allowing her to be damaged like this. They would understand when he explained about Mackey, but still… That fucking _idiot_… How someone that impulsive and moronic got this assignment was beyond him. 

But Mackey was no longer Garner’s problem.

She would require proper medical attention soon. He thankfully knew enough to properly seal the wound and bandage it off, but if he didn’t get her taken care of and on proper antibiotics, the stump was likely to start rotting off. If her blood went septic, all of this would be for nothing…

His eyes locked on her own in the rearview mirror. They were cold, lifeless, and if he did not know better, he would assume her a corpse. It made him shudder and look away. How she was still awake was beyond him: she should have gone into shock when the limb was severed, and if not during that, then when he cauterized the wound. Yet still, she held onto consciousness, though her current state of mind left him questioning if she had possibly snapped.

Another glance in the mirror, and he saw that she had turned her gaze back to the car roof. He let out a small sigh, relaxing and focusing back onto the darkened road.

And all was quiet.

Until…

“Scandium, Titanium, Vanadium…”

He really wished that Mackey had cut out her tongue instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a horrible person. I am soooooo sorry.
> 
> I swear this is a happy story in the end. Eventually. Maybe. Okay I can't promise y'all anything because I am fickle as hell and have a cruel streak towards characters.
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think below! I may not respond to all the comments (I have soooo many stockpiled... I think I broke 200?...) but I READ THEM ALL I SWEAR. Most of them I read multiple times. They give me life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short!!! I just bought a house and am currently splitting most of my time between fixing it up and going to work. My schedule should go back to normal in a couple weeks!! Thanks for your patience!

She wasn’t sure how long it had been.

A few months at the very least, but her attempts at keeping track of time had long since been abandoned. Days blurred together in her cell, the dim lights of the fluorescent bulbs only going out when the bulbs died out. She hadn’t seen daylight since they arrived here, and for someone like herself who was used to holing up in labs for days at a time, she would give anything to feel the sun against her skin.

The only thing that could be used to keep track of time would be when a meal was slid into the cell. Not that it was a reliable source: the more time passed, the more they seemed to forget about her, her meals growing scarcer by the day.

Fingers traced along the frayed edges of her shirt, frowning at the hem. It stank horribly, but she didn’t exactly have any options for a fresh wardrobe: she wasn’t really sure where this one came from, but she had woken in it after passing out from pain the last time they cleaned out her infected arm. Infections had been extremely common during her first few weeks here, the wound all but refusing to heal, seeping each and every time they changed the bandage.

It likely would have healed better if they had remembered to actually redress the wound more often.

“How in the hell did they manage to hide out in SHIELD for this long…” she muttered bitterly as she stared at the ceiling. “I know Fury is missing an eye, but he couldn’t of been _that_ blind…”

Rambling had become her method of coping, talking about anything and everything in between fevers and aches and feelings of a phantom limb twitching at her side. Even in her more delirious states, however, she knew well enough to keep away from certain topics. Her ramblings never strayed to scientific topics, paranoia causing her to fear them overhear her.

Heaven forbid she let slip anything about her dad’s suits or, worse, Jane’s bridge…

The delirium did work in her favor, however. After the first few weeks of nonsensical ramblings, failed attempts to… _extract_ information from her, they had stopped attempting to ask her questions. Every couple of weeks, they try again, thinking she might change her tune, but slowly the gaps between interrogations had grown longer. Likely, they were beginning to assume that she simply was not in the right frame of mind to give them answers. The word ‘insane’ was thrown around quite a bit, along with other more _colorful _words to describe her, but she didn’t mind.

Their opinion didn’t matter.

Garner’s opinion had mattered, once upon a time. Back when he was her pseudo friend, acquaintance, whatever you would call a bodyguard of three years. Laughter spilled out, loud and sharp and close to cackling. She hoped that he got blamed for the state she was in. So many resources had apparently been put into her. Years upon years worth, only for him to bring her in, broken and injured, his partner gone and her mind seeming to have snapped.

A distant shout for her to shut up caused her laughter to die off, and the somber and dullness returned to her. She had given up being scared a long time ago. Given up hope for rescue the moment Mackey had first sunk that cleaver into her arm, the moment Garner had tossed her dismembered limb and tracker out the van window, the moment her one chance at being found was ripped away from her.

She had grown content with the fact that she would likely die in their possession. Took comfort in the fact that all their efforts to use her had been a waste. Took comfort in the fact that Jane had a steady place at Stark Industries, that she was finally getting the respect that her genius deserved. Took comfort in the fact that Tony finally had Pepper, that he had someone to love him and respect him.

Her family would miss her. But they would be okay. They would move on. And she was okay with that-

And that was when the alarm went off.

* * *

He couldn’t help the scowl on his face.

He had been sloppy, overconfident in his maneuvers. After months of infiltrating various Hydra bases, he had let his guard slip, heading into the factory with less than acceptable recon. His overeagerness to gain access to their archives had gotten the better of himself.

Hence, the scowl.

And the blaring alarm set off by the goon he had shoot 23 seconds too late did not help alleviate his scowl. _17\. _Swearing under his breath, he absently aimed his gun to the side, shooting off two rounds neatly into the foreheads of two assailants barreling through the doorway. _19._

Thankfully, the location was staffed with minimal guards, just a handful of local members of Hydra and several random leftovers from the fallen American branch that had infested SHIELD. By his count, only three were left-

A man ran around the corner, and he shot him with a tired sigh. _20._

-only_ two_ were left on premises.

Popping the empty cartridge out of his gun as he stepped over a body, he made his way down the halls towards his target. He simply needed the scientist on staff. The rest were useless to him. And if the schematics were correct, the lab should be just up on the left…

A gunshot went off, paired with a loud clang of metal hitting metal. Back pressed against the wall by the doorway he had just been shot at through, he glanced down at his arm. Thankfully, whoever had shot had poor aim. His arm was the only bulletproof part of him, not including the kevlar he was currently sporting. Bracing himself to make a move, he heard the hurried whispers of the two men.

“We need to leave, _now_.”

“Not without her.”

_Her_?…

“Just accept that she is a waste of time!”

“I gave up three fucking years of my life babysitting that bitch, we are taking her with us-“

Deciding he had heard enough, he dove around the corner, taking aim and landing a bullet in a knee of each of the targets. Both went down, but he continued moving, striking out at the taller one who was armed. He quickly had him by the arm, twisting it back and pushing him forward till he was face first into the concrete.

That’s when he glanced up at the scientist, only to see him convulsing on the ground, foam spilling from his mouth from the use of a cyanide capsule. _21\. _“Coward…”

“That’s an understatement.”

His attention turned to the man he had pinned to the ground. Tightening the grip on his arm, he demanded, “How do you access the mainframe information?”

Wincing from the strain on his arm, the man snapped, “I don’t fucking know. The doc was the only one with access.” His arm was twisted tighter. “_Fuck_! Seriously, you’d have better luck finding an answer with his corpse!”

Well, that complicated things… “You mentioned a ‘her’.”

“Don’t know what your talking about-“ The twisting tightened even more, and a distinctive popping sound resonated through the air, along with screams of agony. “_Stop!_ Just, stop! She’s in holding! Just downstairs!”

“Who is she?”

“She’s a bitch.” More tightening, followed by another even louder popping sound and even louder, more desperate screaming. “God Damn it, I should have just put a bullet in her from the start! Shit, stop, please, she’s Iron Man’s kid! Fuck, _she’s a Stark!”_

He dropped his grip completely and backed away as if he had been burned. The name Stark bounced around in his head, setting off a cacophony of voices all blending and blurring, pictures fading in and out of memories past. Of laughing and drinking. Of arguments and talks. Of war and triumph.

Of screeching tires and dying breaths.

And then he was brought sharply back to reality by sight of a gun being lifted towards him. Moving out of reflex, he heard the sound of the gun clattering across the floor followed by the distinctive _snap_ of a neck. _22._

Dropping the body onto the concrete floor, he stumbled back a few paces, clutching at his head. The dull pulse throbbing in his head made him want to go curl up in a corner and pretend to not exist for a few hours. But he had a mission.

He had to find a Stark.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE. 
> 
> I am so sorry. I've been moving into my new house and its been a nightmare, and renovations are taking longer than possible. Plus, class and work issues, so life is insane. 
> 
> I should be back to publishing regularly by the end of the month!!! Thank you for your patience!
> 
> This chapter is a little short compared to others, but I just wanted to get this out.
> 
> Also, I have a question at the end of the chapter!!! So please check it out. ^^;

“Another dead end.”

Heaving a heavy sigh, he sunk down into his chair, dropping his face into his hands with tired resignation. “It would appear so.”

He could hear the sound of the chair next to him being pulled out, followed by Sam dropping down next to him. “Steve, man, are you okay?”

“Its been _months_, and we still have no idea where he is.” He gestured towards the map in front of him. “Just a handful of raided Hydra bases and not a single trace of his next target.” Then, with a worried frown, he added, “And Darcy…”

Sam gave him a worried frown. “Jarvis still hasn’t found anything?”

Steve grimaced. “Nothing. No trace of her, alive or…” Shaking his head, he added, “Tony isn’t coping well.”

“I saw the headlines.”

Somehow his frown deepened. Tony’s mental state had been in a steep decline ever since that day when they had found tracking bracelet and dismembered arm in the field. Despite Natasha’s insistence that this further confirmed that they planned to keep her alive, Stark had all but shut down. It was as if something had just _snapped_.

He still hunted for her, pouring everything he could into trying to track her down. But to Steve and others who knew him, it was as if a part of him had died that day. Even Pepper could not get through to him, and though he had never heard anything official, the relationship between the two had suffered and was all but nonexistent.

All he did was search for Darcy and drank. Iron Man had all but disappeared since then, skipping field missions and public events. Wild speculation had been thrown around about what had happened. Headlines speculating about everything from crippling illness to his death were everywhere. Stark Industries was doing everything it could to explain what had happened to Tony Stark even though Pepper was the only one in the company who actually knew what was wrong.

“I don’t think Tony is going to bounce back from this,” Steve stated helplessly. “Not that I can blame him… but without any kind of closure as to what happened to her…”

“I know.” Walking up and sitting a hand on Steve’s shoulder, Sam replied, “You are doing everything you can to help him. We just need to be here for him. And we haven’t given up trying to find her.”

“At this rate, I doubt we will find her until Thor comes back.” Shifting the stacks of paper with the info and leads they had been looking into, he added, “Though I’m wondering if even _he_ is coming back. Asgard has a man who apparently can see everything happening on this planet, one that he said he has asked to _specifically_ watch Jane and Darcy: you would think he would come back knowing the girl he called his sister is missing.”

Or even if he hadn’t cared for Darcy at all, which he highly doubted based on how fondly Thor had spoken of his ‘lightning sister’ in the past, you would think he would come to help Jane. The woman had become a frantic mess since Darcy’s capture: apparently she tended to neglect herself when working, and Darcy, her best friend, had been the one to keep her on track.

Now, without Darcy’s guidance, Jane constantly seemed on the brink of either a breakdown or shutdown, with none of the hired assistants being able to understand or help the tiny, unstable scientist the way Darcy had.

Sam shrugged. “For all we know, Asgard is at war or something. Or that he can’t cross over. We won’t know what until he gets back here. But yeah. The sooner the better-“

The door slammed open at that moment, and Natasha came striding in, a look of vindication on her features. Ever since the young Stark had went missing, she had buried herself in chasing down leads of various deep cover Hydra agents. Despite her cover being blown in the data dump, she had somehow managed to still track down numerous agents to… _gather_ intel.

While usually he would be wary about her methods, the past few months had led him to simply not ask any questions.

Snatching up Steve’s Starkpad, she began to flick through various files as she spoke. “Jarvis, pull up what Tony and I just saw.”

“Nat, what-“

“Just _look,_ Rogers.” The holoscreen flickered to life, and pages of information started pouring out around them. “Someone just all of this dumped this onto Jarvis’ private servers.”

Steve’s brows furrowed. “How did they get access?”

“Tony isn’t sure: no one should even know that these servers exist, apparently.” Highlighting select pages of information, she added, “This looks like server pages from a Hydra base.”

“That’s a lot of data,” Sam commented, watching as more and more files filled the screen.

“And it even includes contacts and doxes several Hydra moles and bases,” she added. “It’s the biggest collection we’ve found since the original data dump of SHIELD: its been dropping info for the past twenty minutes and _still_ isn’t done.”

Steve pulled up several documents on his Starkpad, scrolling through as he spoke. “Do we have anyway of finding out where they came from?”

“Jarvis is running a trace-“

“Miss Romanoff, if I may interject,” came Jarvis’ smooth voice from the speakers overhead. “But I found some important information that I thought prudent to share with you before Sir.”

Steve and the others shared a concerned glance. There was only one reason that Jarvis would want to share something with them over Tony… “Show us, Jarvis.”

Specific files began to filter on the screen, as well as a security feed. He heard Natasha swear in Russian, Sam muttering a ‘well, I’ll be damned’ under his breath as they all watched the screen.

“When was this footage taken?”

“It is a live feed, sir.”

The feed showed two people, one a girl, underfed and looking worse for ware, covered in dirt and grime and her hair matted and unkempt sitting at a computer station. They watched as the girl on the screen turned away from a computer station and waved with a bandage covered stub of an arm, a wry grin on her face. She turned back and continued typing surprisingly fast with one hand, all while a familiar man with a metal arm stood calmly at her side.

Steve could not help the bitter laugh. “Of _course_ he would find the pretty dame first…” Rising up, he barked, “Suit up! We need to get to the quinjet-“

“Sir, the file download has been completed,” Jarvis interjected. On the feed, bright red lights began to flash, and they watched as Bucky quickly scooped up Darcy into his arms and fled. “The Hydra base’s self destruct sequence had been initiated.”

“Everyone move, _now_.”

* * *

The night was quiet.

The dull thrum of the car engine paired with the soft breathing of the young woman- _23_, the unknown variable, a Stark, not a target- next to him filled the air. She had fallen unconscious not long after he had carried her from the compound, and she had yet to stir since. Putting as much distance as he could between them and the now leveled compound, he began to mull over what had led to this.

The young Stark, _23_, kept alive, had been in a horrid state when he found her in the cell. covered in dirt and clearly malnourished, her wounds had been poorly tended to if at all, and the sight of her missing hand had sent pangs of hurt through his chest. When he had seen the wary look in her eyes, defiant despite the sense of utter defeat that hung in her posture, he knew that he had to do everything in his power to help her.

She did not trust him at first as he led her from the cell, but put up no fight, seeming to know that she did not have a chance against him. But her attitude flipped the moment they had crossed the first corpse. He had cursed himself at first for not trying to shield her from the death, seeing how she had frozen at the sight, but then she had finally spoken.

“_Did you do this?_”

“…_yes_.”

After a pause, she gave a stiff nod. “_Good._” Then, with her first genuine smile had asked, “_Which way is the nearest computer? I hope the wifi isn’t shit_.”

Ten minutes later, he had helped her settle in at a computer station, finding her some food and water from the kitchen and coaxing her to eat and drink while she typed away, bypassing the firewalls with ease downloading all the information from the mainframe onto offsite servers. “_Only the Avengers will have access to this. That’s okay, right?_”

Avengers meant Captain America, meant the man on the bridge, his mission, his friend… his S_teve_.

He had nodded yes.

She continued to ramble as she worked, her words scattered and nonsensical, but given what she had seemingly been through, he could understand her current state of mind. Panic and complete shutdown hedged around the edge of her actions, and she was pushing herself forward the only way she how. Besides, she worked more efficiently under pressure than any other noncombatant he had encountered. At one point, she had even turned to one of the security cameras and waved, explaining to him that the Avengers could see them.

He should have been more alarmed about the idea of being watched than he was.

They had left soon after, thus leading to the current predicament. The girl’s arm needed medical treatment. He had not been able to properly look at it yet, but his heightened senses could practically _smell_ the infection. How she had managed to work despite the pain… hell, how her blood hadn’t gone septic and killed her yet was a miracle in and of itself.

He could handle pain easily. It was in his training. It was what he was designed to do. A person who smiles like her at a monster like him should not have to know this kind of pain.

He should have made their deaths’ slower.

She shifted in her sleep, letting out a small whimper. He found his hand moving of its own accord, resting atop her head, moving in a soothing motion. She calmed, making a pleased hum, as her body relaxed back into a deeper sleep.

Despite his original intentions to make hunting down the last of Hydra his top priority, seeing the girl, vulnerable and injured, having suffered at Hydra’s hands, made him decide otherwise. He would stay with the young Stark. He would protect her as best he could, until he could assure himself she was safe without him. He would not let her suffer as he had.

No one would ever lay a finger on her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY SO IMPORTANT QUESTION SEND HELP.
> 
> I have a problem with like twenty plot ideas hitting me at once. Crash and Fake are def my more serious fics right now, but I kind of wanted to work on a self indulgent fic on the side?... Like just complete plot troupes that are done a ton, but I love them. Just something to help when I'm stuck in a plot hole.
> 
> But I have two ideas, and I don't want to allow myself to work on both and overload myself even more. 
> 
> SO. WHICH DO YALL PREFER: Vampire Darcy fic or an ABO (alpha beta omega) fic? Either one will be a Darcy/Steve/Bucky pairing. 
> 
> Please let me know!!!

**Author's Note:**

> This story is probably gonna have shorter chapters, but that should make it easier to update hopefully.
> 
> Anyway, let me know what y'all think~ I couldn't resist the daughter thing... I've been wanting it in a fic for a while now.


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